Although this science fiction film is out of the paranoid school so popular in the Fifties, the end message is far from watch out for invaders of all kind. The world, although we don't see it from other than an American point of view actually comes together to help fight off an invasion from a dying race of aliens.

As is usual in these kinds of films the aliens have been monitoring us pretty closely, but it also turns out that they're as paranoid as the earth people. They shoot down rockets carrying satellite probes into space, man's first step in that direction. Then they contact Hugh Marlowe, the scientist in charge of the project and want a face to face. Transmission's kind of difficult as they move at a speed far greater than human. This same gambit was used in a famous Star Trek episode.

It's a race against time even though the aliens give us two months to decide on surrender which we use in the greatest crash science program of all time. Hugh Marlowe, wife Joan Taylor and scientists around the world discover the weaknesses of the invaders.

I think the real star of this film is special effects guru Ray Harryhausen. When the attack begins and it occupies the last twenty minutes or so of Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, Harryhausen steps in and takes the film away from the human cast members. The animated sequences showing the attack on Washington, DC with some familiar landmarks being damaged and destroyed are the highlight of the film.

One thing about the film did bother me. I wish they had given the aliens some kind of generic name, Krell, Klingon, whatever. Other than that Earth vs. The Flying Saucers is one of the better science fiction films from the Fifties.

While this isn't as good as INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS or THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, it is one of the better sci-fi movies of the 1950s. Even by today's standards, the Ray Harryhausen special effects are pretty good (except in a few spots) and it's great fun watching the city of Washinton, DC being destroyed by these evil aliens. Scenes of the UFOs crashing into the Washington Monument are really memorable and take this film to a higher level of interest. Plus, once the pathetic humans figure out a way to fight these aliens, it's a lot of fun to watch. Yes the aliens are ONCE AGAIN evil and bent on destroying mankind, but the way the film is intelligently written and executed make this a worthwhile picture. For the 1950s, it was a heck of a film and still holds up well today.

By the way, at the half hour mark, there is a scene supposedly along the Chesapeake Bay. I grew up just a few miles from there and was surprised to see all the mountains! Obviously this was shot in California and it looked almost nothing like the Bay.

This is a great example of 1950's sci-fi movies and the flying saucer scare craze that was sweeping the nation and of course parallels the cold war threat and the resilience and ingenuity of American science and military might. Retired Major Donald E. Keyhoe was the author of a series of non-fiction books of the era outlining his belief in the reality of flying saucers and this film draws from his book Flying Saucers From Outer Space. Veteran monster movie writer Curt Siodmak adapted a story based on the book for this film and veteran monster movie screenwriter George Worthing Yates wrote the screenplay. Special effects legend Ray Harryhausen supervised the effects and Josh Westmoreland, a sound veteran of westerns and monster movies, provided the sound. B-movie director Fred F. Sears and B-movie cinematographer Fred Jackman Jr. put it all together on the screen. In what would be a foreboding of things to come on 9/11 American monuments are under attack and destroyed. Aliens from a dying planet come to earth to claim it as their own but earth fights back. Hugh Marlow and Joan Taylor star. It's campy but it's still a good flick and a good representative of it's era and genre and I would give it an 8.0 out of 10.